We encourage the search for innovation
Neoenergia Group seeks qualified partners and projects to carry out its Research and Development (R&D) actions. These partners can be from public and private institutions of Education and Research or just Research, consulting firms, manufacturers of materials and equipment and companies of the sector. The proposals should be based on the search for innovations to face the technological and market challenges of the electric power companies.
The projects submitted to Neoenergia must be formatted based on the guidelines of the Technological Development and Research Program Manual of the Electrical Energy Sector. (Read the document on the Aneel website).
The projects will be assessed internally based on the following criteria: originality, appropriateness, relevance and cost reasonableness. The projects pre-selected and approved by the Neoenergia Group Innovation Committee will be eligible to compose the R&D Program.
For submission of project proposals, contact the Company's R&D and Innovation Management Team by email at pedgeracao@neoenergia.com.
PRIORITY THEMES FOR THE PROPOSITION OF R&D PROJECTS
Accordion | Sustainability
Sustainability is a focal point of the Neoenergia R&D projects given its relevance to the organization, clients, and society.
The theme includes the following lines of research:
- Environment
- Social Responsibility
- Energy Efficiency
- Alternative Sources of Energy
- Universalization of Power Supply.
Accordion | Safety of People and Facilities
The main business challenges related to the theme of Safety arise from the need to consolidate the implementation of the NR10 standard with the electric power distributors, ensure the efficiency of service providers and, thus, reduce the risks of activities involving contact with electricity.
The research lines prioritized in this theme are:
- Analysis and mitigation of risk of electrical accidents;
- New technologies for personal protective equipment;
- New technologies for inspection and maintenance of electrical systems;
- Training to perform risk activities and reduction of human error.
Accordion | Measurement, Billing and Fight Against Commercial Losses
The amount of nontechnical losses and the investments to fight them must be such so as to minimize the total cost transferred to consumers. Tariff reductions can be achieved by increasing the customer base, after adjustment of the consumer units.
In this context, the prioritized lines of research lines are:
- Economic assessment for definition of the minimum attainable loss;
- Estimation, analysis and reduction of technical losses in electric systems;
- Diagnosis, prospection and reduction of vulnerability of electrical systems to theft and fraud;
- Energy saved and added to the market after regularization of frauds;
- Energía ahorrada y agregada al mercado después de regularización de fraudes;
- Use of socioeconomic indicators, fiscal data and expenses with other inputs;
- Management of measuring equipment (quality and fault reduction);
- Impact of the Energy Efficiency projects in the reduction of commercial losses;
- Centralized systems for measurement, control and energy management at final consumers;
- Billing systems and new tariff structures.
Accordion | Quality and Reliability of the Electric Systems
The approval of the Electric Power Distribution Procedures in the Aneel National Electric Energy System , more specifically Module 8, shall establish challenges for the Power Distribution Companies to monitor and guarantee in the future the quality of the voltage wave at the points of delivery, whereas this is affected by variations of short duration, harmonics, imbalances and fluctuation.
On the other hand, the technological evolution of the consumer units, mainly for industrial customers that have loads controlled by electronic devices, has required a high level of quality of the services provided by the company.
The lines of research prioritized in this theme are:
- Systems and techniques for monitoring and management of the electric energy quality;
- Modeling and analysis of the disorders associated to electric energy quality;
- Requirements for connection of potentially disturbing loads in the electrical system;
- Sensitivity curves and serviceability of equipment;
- Economic impacts and contractual aspects of the electric energy quality;
- Financial compensation for breach of quality indicators.
Accordion | Smart Grid
The Smart Grid theme is relatively new and has been widely discussed all over the world. The prospects of research in this area are proving to be promising in innovations and opportunities, resulting in significant technological advances, development of new products and marketing opportunities, linked to the supply and consumption of electric energy.
Various motivations stimulate investments in Smart Grids. In Brazil, in general, the main motivators have been the improvement in quality of the energy service and the reduction of technical and commercial losses, supervised by Aneel in the periodic tariff reviews.
The following lines of research are covered in this theme:
- Proof of concept of the Smart Grid, including the necessary technical resources;
- Distributed microgeneration, assessment of the feasibility of its application under the aspect of sustainability;
- Power quality and supply to electrical vehicles;
- New and improved systems of grid supervision, control and monitoring;
- New components for the grid;
- Automation;
- Development of intelligence systems and computational tools to optimize grid assets;
- Solutions, intelligent systems and tools that optimize company-client relationship.